First Day Back, and Already Chaos Reigns
by Selene Illusinia
Summary: [More Than She Seems] Just a short piece reflecting part of Darcy's first day back at SHIELD following the end of Mischief Loves Company. As usual, Loki causes a little bit of trouble.


**This is Darcy's first day back at S.H.I.E.L.D following the last scene of _Michief loves Company_. I tried to infuse some humor into it, but I don't know how it turned out. Just a random piece without an real significant value in terms of the entire set of stories. Let me know what you guys think and enjoy.**

**Seriously, I've said it before, I don't own these characters: this is just for fun.**

**- Illusinia**

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><p>Darcy could feel the eyes on her as she walked through S.H.I.E.L.D's HQ. Not that she could blame anyone. After all, how many people can say they are the reason as 'supervillian' decided <em>not<em> to destroy a city/ enslave the world? Not many, that's for damn sure. Fewer people can probably say they're the reason a _god_ decided not to do those exact same things. Though she'd never admit it, Darcy felt a certain warmth over what had happened. Loki loved her enough to give up his grand plans as a way to ensure she'd be safe.

Now, however, that meant that everyone at S.H.I.E.L.D was looking at her like an entomologist looks at a rare spider: something to be weary of while simultaneously fascinated by. It would probably be worse if Loki was actually _walking_ with her at the moment. Thankfully he was currently locked in a meeting with Fury, Coulson, and the Avengers working on some kind of treaty or deal. She'd make sure to steal his ass from them later for lunch. After all, it was the least he deserved for deciding to play nice like he had.

The sudden appearance of a shaded S.H.I.E.L.D agent in front of her stopped the forward momentum she'd been maintaining. _Damnit, what's wrong now._ "Yo, what's up?"

"Miss Lewis, come with me," ordered Mr. I'm-Trying-To-Be-Intimidating. "Director Fury and the Avengers wish to speak with you."

Darcy rolled her eyes, the force of which she suspected could send the orbs spinning from her head if it weren't for the surrounding connective tissue. "Why am I not surprised? Alright Tall-Dark-And-Humorless, lead the way."

She could hear the agent scoff, but the man said no more as he started towards the security checkpoint which led into the Avenger's portion of the base. Darcy followed at her own leisurely pace. If Fury wanted to talk with her, he could do it when she damn well got there. It wasn't like she couldn't guess what he wanted to talk to her about. After all, she had been 'kidnapped' by Loki. Right. Like her best friend could really 'kidnap' her. _Whatever._

It took them almost ten minutes and five security checkpoints before they reached the main area where the conference rooms were. Well, conference _room_. The Avengers only needed one.

The surrounding halls were deserted, allowing Darcy to hear snippets of the conversation coming from their destination. Apparently, Loki was taunting Fury and Coulson with his usual runaround style while Thor tried to encourage his brother to cooperate. Like _that_ was gonna happen.

As Mr. Secret-Agent-Man hit the door controls to the room, Darcy sealed herself for the chaos she just knew awaited her. Loki couldn't seem to go for five minutes without causing some kind of mayhem. She wasn't disappointed.

Loki was lounging at one end of the conference table, smiling serenely as Coulson continued to attempt to question him. Fury was rubbing his forehead, apparently battling a growing headache, and Thor appeared to be attempting to talk sense into Loki, as Darcy had heard from outside. The remaining Avengers were sitting around watching the show, with Tony covering the occasional laugh with a poorly mimicked cough. Clint was standing at attention against a wall, Natasha standing beside him and clearly amused. Steve was bristling, one of his massive hands clenching and unclenching repeatedly. Based on what was being said, Coulson was apparently trying to get Loki to tell him what, exactly, had happened the previous night. Loki, for his part, was giving Coulson the runaround when he wasn't attempting to make the man uncomfortable.

No one looked up as she entered the room, though Loki's eyes slid towards her and his smile lifted a bit more in one corner. One of his fingers came up to tap his chin, a sign Darcy recognized as the one he would give to indicate he wanted her to play along. Darcy's right hand came up to push back her hair, indicating her willingness to have some fun.

"As I have said already, Agent Coulson, I had no intention of actually destroying the city," explained Loki. "It was merely a bluff to ensure that Darcy was safe. One cannot simply allow their enemies to destroy their followers if one wishes to continue to be worshiped. Is that not correct Darcy?"

Darcy almost laughed at the way every head in the room snapped in her direction. Did no one else seriously hear the door open? Seriously. They were supposed to be black ops trained superheros after all. "Totally. I would have completely stopped with the worship if you'd let me get killed."

"See?" continued Loki casually. "I cannot just allow people to kill my followers. Especially one as devout as the lovely Darcy."

"Flattery will get you everywhere," grinned back Darcy. "Specifically, it will get you the couch. And I believe we've already established that you're too tall for that."

Loki pouted at her and straightened up. "My follower banishing me to the couch? That's a little rude."

Darcy snorted. "Dude, you declared me a Goddess of Mischief years ago. I think that gives me the right to banish your ass at least to the couch."

"_The_ Goddess of Mischief, singular not plural. And I suppose you have that right," sighed Loki as he turned to look at Coulson again. "As you can see, Agent Coulson, Darcy is of particular value to me. I find it only natural to want to protect her. It is so hard to find a good follower in this day and age."

Coulson looked like he might be choking on air, which was an impressive feat. Seriously, Darcy hadn't thought that Coulson could display any emotion on his face other than smug. Shocked was funny as hell, like the time they'd filled the staff office with glitter balloons which had popped on the grammar-Nazi English teacher's head. She was having a hard time not laughing.

"Brother," sighed Thor. "What use could you possibly have use of a follower for?"

Loki shot Darcy an absolutely _filthy _look, which Darcy sent right back to him. She could just see Clint nearly fall over beside Natasha who was trying her hardest not to break into hardcore laughter. Darcy sincerely hoped that was the reason Clint fell over so gracelessly.

"You would be amazed what a good..._acolyte_ can do for ones frustrations brother," commented Loki idly. "After all, is that not what you keep Lady Jane around for?"

Darcy almost cracked up at that comment and had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing and giving up the game. She could see Coulson looked more than a little disturbed but Fury was barely smiling. Apparently Loki's little game was amusing for him. For now at least.

"Enough Agent Coulson," ordered Fury mildly as he stood from his chair and nodded to Loki. "You've signed our agreement and we all know the terms. I think our business here is finished. Thor." The God of Thunder straightened significantly. "Show you're brother out when he's done harassing everyone. Or whenever he starts to tick people off too much, whichever comes first."

"Of course," replied Thor with a sigh and glance at his brother. Loki raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

As soon as both Fury and Coulson were out of the room, Darcy nearly fell over and allowed her laughter to burst free. "Oh gods, Coulson's face...I didn't think it was _possible_ for someone to choke on air, much less Coulson. The man looked constantly constipated!"

Tony raised a casual eyebrow at the laughing girl and God of Mischief, who had joined her almost immediately. "So I'll take it none of that was true?"

"Partially," corrected Loki with a chuckle. "Every excellent lie has a grain of truth."

"And the banter was totally real," confirmed Darcy with a grin as her laughter died away. "I'm not just his sex-toy acolyte. Not that I doubt he has one of those or anything. He just doesn't bring her/him/it to the apartment."

Loki's eyebrow went up. "Excuse me, I thought it was established that I am very much straight."

"Sure," snorted Darcy. "Except when a highly attractive male is shoving his tongue down your throat."

"You know you enjoyed it," insisted Loki, his grin widening a little. "Besides, I was attempting to prove a point about the young mans sexual preferences: namely that he did not find girls appealing."

Darcy gave another eye-roll, only this time with less force. "Dude, we _knew_ he wasn't straight. _Everyone_ knew he wasn't straight. Dani and I just wanted to see if we could get you to kiss him."

Loki looked a little appalled. "If I lacked my fondness for a good show of manipulative prowess, I would be rather upset with you."

Darcy just started giggling again as Clint moved to help her up with a shake of his head. "Do any of us really want to know?"

"High school," replied both Darcy and Loki, one with laughter and the other with a rather bored tone.

Natasha raised one eyebrow calmly. "High school? I was under the impression that both Loki and Thor were significantly older than you Darcy."

"They are," assured Darcy. "Loki was nice enough to join Dani and I in the tortures of high school."

"Only because you showed such promise as pranksters," insisted Loki. "Otherwise I would have left you be and not bothered."

Darcy snickered slightly and patted Loki's shoulder. "Keep telling yourself that dude."

"So, Darcy was a trickster then?" questioned Tony curiously.

"Am," corrected Darcy. "I _am_ a trickster, and a damn good one at that if my track record is any indication."

Dr. Banner looks contemplative for a moment before joining the chaos. "I mean no disrespect by this Darcy, but do you have the creativity and skill for such a thing?"

"Goddess of Mischief," repeated Darcy. "Loki seriously calls me that. Or at least used to. Don't think I've earned that title recently. I am _so_ going to change that soon though. Some people in this place have gotten away with a few too many things and I fully intend to put a stop to that."

Tony snorted. "How'd you become a mischief maker with your IQ anyway?"

"Tony!" exclaimed Steve. "That was completely inappropriate! Apologize to the lady."

Darcy and Loki shared a look and an eye-roll before she turned back to the group. "He wasn't insulting my intelligence Steve, he was asking how someone as smart as me ended up a trouble maker instead of a rocket-scientist. And the answer is that mischief is my muse. Half the shit I've built or designed is directly related to pranks or tricks."

It was Clint's turn to raise a disbelieving eyebrow. "You have a high IQ? No offense if I don't believe you."

"Eh, I won't," assured Darcy with a shrug. "But for the record, my IQ is 175 and I was heading towards becoming one of the leaders of the engineering world before I left my program for Poli Sci."

"175?" choked Clint. Natasha had to pat him on the back a few times. "What the fuck! If you're that smart, why aren't you developing power plants or building rockets or shit like that?"

"If it makes you feel better, Thor wouldn't be here if Darcy hadn't managed to solve our power issue," commented Tony with a smirk.

Darcy snorted lightly. "I didn't _solve_ anything. It was a temporary fix if you'll remember, nothing we could safely do again."

"Eh, still got him here alive," pointed out Tony. "Besides, you fixed things for that moment. What do you think would have happened if you hadn't been able to stabilize that thing?"

"Thor would have been torn to shreds in a vortex of pure power," replied Darcy as she hopped up on the table. "It would have been messy."

"And unpleasant," added Loki as he came to stand beside Darcy. "Cleaning up such messes is dreadfully tedious."

"I'd imagine," muttered Darcy. "Anyway, if you guys are done questioning Loki, I wanted to drag him out for lunch."

She grabbed one of Loki's arms as she jumped down and started to drag him along but Natasha stopped her. "One question: do you and Loki really know each other from high school?"

"Yep," grinned Darcy. "And its all because Dani and I built shrines to his awesome mischief-making abilities!"

"Amazing," muttered the Russian woman as she moved aside so Darcy and Loki could exit.

Once both people were out of the room, Darcy released Loki with a grin. "So, what kind of agreement did you sign anyway?"

Loki smirked and offered up his arm. "One simply stating that I would refrain from attempting to destroy the city or the world in exchange for your continued safety."

Her arm slid into his, fitting in the crook naturally. "So I'm officially the reason you decided not to take over the world?"

"Precisely," confirmed Loki as they started down the hall. "Now, to what venue are we heading?"

"Well," started Darcy with a grin, "I'm thinking Norwegian..."


End file.
